my feet drag,
my breath comes in huffs.
i sigh as i walk,
burdened by my sorrows,
clouded by their weight.

morning dawns
as i make my way, slowly,
through these quiet streets.
this familiar morning rhythm wakes me,
tugging the sleep from my bones.

i step over scattered petals,
‘dropped like confetti,’ i think,
then ask bitterly, as if to the trees, ‘but what is there to celebrate?’
‘perhaps,’ i hear, ‘the sweetness of the dew,
glistening with light, with life?’

the birds call to each other,
their sing-song cadence trilling around me,
‘but what is there to sing about?’
‘perhaps,’ they say, ‘this particularly brilliant dawn,
scattered rays like golden stripes in the sky.’

the trees jostle, their branches shiver,
as if with caged delight, as if holding a secret they’re giddy to share,
‘but what is there to be giddy about?’
‘perhaps,’ they rustle, ‘this wind in our leaves,
this particularly vivid feeling of being alive.’

the cicadas roar,
their voices a multitude, joined as if in wonder and praise,
‘but what is there to praise?’ i mutter.
i huff, drag, sigh.
but the voices grow, awakening, welcoming, pulsing with life.

my mind recalls the magnitude of the rockies,
the pink glow as morning wakes them,
i marvel remembering snow-capped alps,
glistening diamonds of frost on branches.
beauty that has left me stripped of words, of pride, of self.

and i am suddenly humbled.
nearly brought to my knees
alone on this street.
i stand quiet, huffing, sighing,
as nature sings around me.

didn’t he say even the rocks
[the trees, the birds too] would cry out?

and they do, every morning, without fail.
yet here i stand: grumbling, muttering,
distracted by sorrow
while creation is calling, singing, delighting,
praising the glory i now see.

i’m startled by how little i notice,
how seldom i marvel.
and yet how truly glorious it is that each morning
is ushered in by a gentle hand.
the same gentle hand that holds me close.

i sigh again, but this time i find
my sorrow has dissipated.
my breath fills my lungs, all the way down.
i’m awake;
heart-awake, soul-awake.

i look up,
see sky, birds, trees, flowers,
light, life, hope,
beauty all around.
and i join the song.